{"id":99502,"date":"2019-09-01T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-01T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/mobile\/pokemon_masters"},"modified":"2019-09-01T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-01T17:00:00","slug":"review-pokemon-masters-one-of-the-best-pokemon-mobile-games-but-still-not-quite-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/09\/01\/review-pokemon-masters-one-of-the-best-pokemon-mobile-games-but-still-not-quite-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Pok\u00e9mon Masters &#8211; One Of The Best Pok\u00e9mon Mobile Games, But Still Not Quite There"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/cabee17936495\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/cabee17936495\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id>\n<aside class=\"picture embed right\"><a title=\"Pok\u00e9mon Masters Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98724\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98724\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"Pok\u00e9mon Masters Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>While The Pok\u00e9mon Company has been on mobile phones doing games and apps since 2011 \u2013 long before Nintendo seriously considered going mobile \u2013 it has never jumped into what many believe is the secret sauce to securing a successful mobile game: Gacha-style mechanics. These are games where you get characters through random drops with various events adding more characters. However, now The Pok\u00e9mon Company has released <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/mobile\/pokemon_masters\">Pok\u00e9mon Masters<\/a><\/strong>, a game where you\u2019re not collecting Pok\u00e9mon, but rather collecting <em>trainers<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Pok\u00e9mon Masters is a very simple concept. You are a standard nameless character who goes to the artificial island region of Pasio to take part in the Pok\u00e9mon Masters League. To do that, you need to recruit various other trainers to join you and level them (and their Pok\u00e9mon) up. These trainers are all from various main series Pok\u00e9mon games: you have Kris, the main female character from <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/gbc\/pokemon_crystal\">Pok\u00e9mon Crystal<\/a><\/strong>, Nanu the Ula\u2019ula Kahuna from <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/3ds\/pokemon_sun_and_moon\">Pok\u00e9mon Sun &amp; Moon<\/a><\/strong>, Marlon the Humilau City Gym Leader from <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/ds\/pokemon_black_and_white_2\">Pok\u00e9mon Black 2 &amp; White 2<\/a><\/strong>, and so many more. There are 65 at launch, with the promise of more to come.<\/p>\n<p>Each &#8216;Sync Pair&#8217; is a trainer and a Pok\u00e9mon, and you can\u2019t change the Pok\u00e9mon a trainer has \u2013 although some <em>can<\/em> Mega Evolve. Now, with a Gacha-style game, this may seem like a bad thing, but Pok\u00e9mon Masters starts off with 18 chapters and each chapter comes with a Sync Pair for free \u2013 many of whom are really good and helpful. It is entirely possible to beat the game with your free Sync Pairs without too much trouble.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed left\"><a title=\"Pok\u00e9mon Masters Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98725\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98725\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"Pok\u00e9mon Masters Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Each Sync Pair has a star rating and a level cap based on that star rating, but this can be improved using various items \u2013 and this is where the mobile-style elements come in. Between events, if you have beaten the story, there\u2019s little to do except grind Training and Co-Op missions to get resources in order to boost your Sync Pairs up to their maximum potential and level, and this is necessary to do the &#8216;Very Hard&#8217; Co-Op and Training levels, which (of course) promise the best rewards. If you want these rewards and want to boost your Sync Pairs to their maximum, you will need to go through and beat all of these <em>repeatedly<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The game\u2019s story consists of chapters that contain story levels which are just cutscenes interspersed with battles \u2013 this is similar to how DeNA\u2019s <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/mobile\/fire_emblem_heroes\">Fire Emblem Heroes<\/a><\/strong> works, but it means many of the game elements and the size of the story are not really represented in the gameplay. However, it <em>does<\/em> flesh out some of the characters who had just small amounts of screentime in the main series games and has them interact with characters they never would have had to chance to before; this, for your average Pok\u00e9mon fan, is both surreal <em>and<\/em> awesome. Pok\u00e9mon Masters also lacks a Stamina system, so you can play for as long as you want without having to wait for recharges or having to collect certain items to play stages. Considering the state of other mobile games \u2013 including other Pok\u00e9mon mobile games which make you have to regenerate playtime \u2013 this is really welcome.<\/p>\n<p>The battles in Pok\u00e9mon Masters are fairly simple. You use moves which gobble up part of your move gauge, which regenerates over time. The mechanics are similar to the mainline Pok\u00e9mon games, but far more basic in scope. Pok\u00e9mon only have one weakness and no resistances, so you can more easily fine-tune your teams. You can even set the battles to play automatically if you\u2019re grinding courses, so it doesn\u2019t require your full attention; however, this doesn\u2019t work as fast or strategically. The whole system is rather basic, but that&#8217;s perhaps to be expected in a mobile game.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed right\"><a title=\"Pok\u00e9mon Masters Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98720\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98720\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"Pok\u00e9mon Masters Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Pok\u00e9mon Masters&#8217; scouting elements \u2013 which allow you to find new trainers \u2013 are actually fairly generous without being <em>too<\/em> generous. Through the completion of the story you will earn literally thousands of gems that can only be used on scouting other Sync Pairs; we were able to scout around 20 Sync Pairs simply using these free gems. If you get a Sync Pair you already own, you will power that Sync Pair\u2019s final move up \u2013 and if that is maxed out then you\u2019ll get items that can boost the Sync Pair\u2019s star rating and stats up.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s even generous in that you gain points for every 100 gems you spend, and once you reach the threshold (at time of writing 400 Points) you\u2019re able to literally select a Sync Pair to unlock. However, that requires a crazy amount of money. There are also special promotions being held that won\u2019t allow you to use your free gems and require you to use ones you have paid real-world money for. It\u2019s really hard to say if this approach is worth it; granted, the most beloved characters are included here, but you don\u2019t really need them. In future events, they\u2019ll be adding more enticing characters as well. It\u2019s a tricky proposition and as you can\u2019t guarantee the character, it\u2019s all too easy to spend a load of money in the hope that you&#8217;ll get the character you want.<\/p>\n<p>Pok\u00e9mon Masters is multiplayer, but not in the sense of a player vs player; instead, it is focused on co-op play. This mode works well, but is somewhat slower than the standard battles due to all three players being connected \u2013 so you can\u2019t speed things up. However, it does involve a bit more strategy due to each player having one Pok\u00e9mon. If no available players are found, then it will place an NPC in your party, and if a player disconnects, they will be replaced with an NPC. This isn\u2019t ideal for the hard co-op courses, as you need high-ranking Pok\u00e9mon and real people coming up with strategies for it to work.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed left\"><a title=\"Pok\u00e9mon Masters Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98718\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98718\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"Pok\u00e9mon Masters Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The presentation of the game is sublime, but somewhat deceptive. The backgrounds are largely static and, in stages where you can move around areas slightly, the environments are revealed to be really basic. Still, most of the time you\u2019re focusing on the trainers; they\u2019re quite emotive, but they exhibit very basic animations as they talk and a very limited amount of voice acting. The battles are also simple visually, with little in the way of animation \u2013 presumably to keep the rapid-fire nature of the battles intact. This is until the Sync Move animation occurs, which shows off the trainer and the Pok\u00e9mon in unique moves. The standard Pok\u00e9mon models \u2013 and the trainers, for that matter \u2013 look great.<\/p>\n<p>The one problem with the game, at this stage, seems to be longevity. Once you have beaten the story, there\u2019s little to do unless you <em>truly<\/em> wish to max out all your Sync Pairs and get your favourite character. While there are going to be long-form events and more chapters added over and over, there\u2019s little to get you coming back day-to-day, unless there happens to be an event running. Unless the mechanics are shaken up with new features \u2013 which we assume they will be \u2013 then you might grow bored sooner rather than<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Pok\u00e9mon Masters is a solid mobile release, and perhaps one of the most well-realised Pok\u00e9mon mobile titles to date \u2013 especially in terms of presentation Sadly, the lack of any competitive element and little to do other than grind between events and story addition mean that it\u2019s not entirely clear if the game will have the staying power required to keep people interested beyond the first few months. Still, the potential for character crossover in this game is unparalleled, and hopefully, it won&#8217;t be squandered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While The Pok\u00e9mon Company has been on mobile phones doing games and apps since 2011 \u2013 long before Nintendo seriously considered going mobile \u2013 it has never jumped into what many believe is the secret sauce to securing a successful mobile game: Gacha-style mechanics. These are games where you get characters through random drops with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99502\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}